240 Residence Apartments

A desire to save a beautiful colonial street in Phnom Penh.

I recall one day in 2009 a friend of mine who owned a charming boutique hotel in Siem Reap asked me to find him a piece of land in Phnom Penh to build a hotel. For a couple of months, I searched and finally found a suitable piece of land located behind the royal palace on street 240. This is one of my favorite streets in the whole city. It has tall leafy trees, boutique shops and cafés and most importantly a colonial feel to it. It so happened that the owner of the land did not want to sell the land but was willing to enter into a partnership deal. She advised she would put up her land and my friend would put up the money for the building making them partners. I negotiated the terms agreeable to both parties, however when it came time to sign the agreement my friend informed me that he and his partners had a big disagreement on the project financially and therefore they could no longer go ahead with the deal.

Elain Younn - 240 Residence Apartments